diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr.yml b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
index 2a59d032fb..69f04fca1c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name: AlertOnPR
 
-on:
+on: 
   pull_request:
     types: [opened]
 jobs:
@@ -8,10 +8,32 @@ jobs:
     name: Compile
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-    - uses: rtCamp/action-slack-notify@master
-      env:
-        SLACK_WEBHOOK: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
-        SLACK_CHANNEL: 'pr_alerts'
-        SLACK_USERNAME: 'luniebot'
-        SLACK_ICON: 'https://emoji.slack-edge.com/TH6F97TDF/lunie/4ac63c1d435c04dc.png'
-        SLACK_MESSAGE: ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }} | ${{ github.event.pull_request.body }} | ${{ github.event.pull_request._links.html.href }}
+    - name: curl message
+      run: |
+        curl -X POST ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }} \
+        -H 'Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8' \
+        --data-binary "
+        {
+          \"channel\": \"#pr_alerts\", 
+          \"username\": \"pr_alert\", 
+          \"icon_url\": \"https://emoji.slack-edge.com/TH6F97TDF/lunie/4ac63c1d435c04dc.png\",
+          \"attachments\": [
+                {
+                  \"fallback\": \"Required plain-text summary of the attachment.\",
+                  \"color\": \"#36a64f\",
+                  \"author_name\": \"${{github.event.pull_request.user.login}}\",
+                  \"author_link\": \"${{github.event.pull_request.user.url}}\",
+                  \"author_icon\": \"${{github.event.pull_request.user.avatar_url}}\",
+                  \"title\": \"${{github.event.pull_request.title}}\",
+                  \"title_link\": \"${{github.event.pull_request.html_url}}\",
+                  \"text\": \"${{github.event.pull_request.body}}\",
+                  \"fields\": [
+                    {
+                      \"title\": \"Repo\",
+                      \"value\": \"${{github.event.repository.full_name}}\",
+                      \"short\": false
+                    }
+                  ]
+                }
+              ]
+        }"
diff --git a/lib/block-listeners/cosmos-node-subscription.js b/lib/block-listeners/cosmos-node-subscription.js
index be5233ba8b..ce1ea876ce 100644
--- a/lib/block-listeners/cosmos-node-subscription.js
+++ b/lib/block-listeners/cosmos-node-subscription.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const {
 const Sentry = require('@sentry/node')
 
 const WAIT_FOR_BLOCK_DELAY = 5000
+const EXPECTED_MAX_BLOCK_WINDOW = 120000
 
 // This class establishes an rpc connection to Tendermint.
 // Used for listening to events, such as new blocks.
@@ -21,22 +22,54 @@ class CosmosNodeSubscription {
     this.metric = io.metric({
       name: `${this.network.id}_update`
     })
+    this.chainHangup = undefined
 
+    this.connectTendermint(this.network)
+  }
+
+  async connectTendermint(network) {
+    console.log('Connecting to Tendermint on', network.rpc_url)
     // Create a RPC subscription for each network that will react to new block events.
     Tendermint()
-      .connect(this.network.rpc_url)
+      .connect(network.rpc_url)
       .then(connectedClient => {
+        console.log('Connected to Tendermint on', network.rpc_url)
         connectedClient.subscribe({ query: "tm.event='NewBlock'" }, event => {
+          // this tracks the block times
+          // issue: this will only trigger if there are actually blocks I guess
           if (this.lastupdate) {
             const diff = Date.now() - this.lastupdate
             this.metric.set(diff)
           }
           this.lastupdate = Date.now()
+
           setTimeout(
             () => this.newBlockHandler(event.block.header.height),
             WAIT_FOR_BLOCK_DELAY
           )
+
+          // if there are no new blocks for some time, trigger an error
+          // TODO: show this error automatically in the UI
+          if (this.chainHangup) clearTimeout(this.chainHangup)
+          this.chainHangup = setTimeout(() => {
+            console.error(`Chain ${this.network.id} seems to have halted.`)
+            Sentry.captureException(
+              new Error(`Chain ${this.network.id} seems to have halted.`)
+            )
+          }, EXPECTED_MAX_BLOCK_WINDOW)
         })
+
+        // on connection lost, reconnect to tendermint + Sentry error
+        connectedClient.ondisconnect = () => {
+          console.log('Lost connection to Tendermint for', network.rpc_url)
+
+          Sentry.withScope(function(scope) {
+            scope.setExtra('network', network.id)
+            scope.setExtra('rpc_url', network.rpc_url)
+            Sentry.captureException(new Error(`Lost Tendermint connection`))
+          })
+          setTimeout(() => this.connectTendermint(network), 3000)
+        }
       })
       .catch(e => {
         Sentry.withScope(function(scope) {
@@ -44,10 +77,10 @@ class CosmosNodeSubscription {
           scope.setExtra('rpc_url', network.rpc_url)
           Sentry.captureException(e)
         })
-      })
 
-    // disabled immediate validator query as, as the `latest` query is buggy
-    // this.newBlockHandler()
+        // if can't connect, retry
+        setTimeout(() => this.connectTendermint(network), 3000)
+      })
   }
 
   // For each block event, we fetch the block information and publish a message.